The invisible link between translation and neuromarketing

We’re not revealing anything new when we say that some words sell more than others. Or are we?

In more traditional types of communication, companies have focussed on praising their product and the brand itself and, of course, this has led to an inadequate strategy. Today, shopping is no longer viewed as a mere transaction. It has become an experience for the potential customer.

In your online campaigns you will have noticed that terms like sales, eco-friendly, organic, discount, 100%, express delivery, etc. have a greater number of views and interactions with the user.

Why does this occur?

These words trigger the potential customer’s motivation to interact with the ad, to go to the website’s catalogue, and even to make a purchase. This motivation is generated by the communication between the brand and the user, which is engendering an emotional response that can determine not just the potential customer’s next action, but also their opinion and how they judge the brand.

From a neural point of view, emotions have a greater ability to influence us than the rational part of the brain. But why does this occur? The reason is the anticipation, because emotional stimulation affects the human brain more quickly.

However, the terms mentioned above may not achieve the same results in all the languages into which you have translated your brand, or in a new market that you want to expand into. The translation into, and the adaptation for each language should be carried out by a professional linguist who is a native speaker of the language and who knows the culture. This is because culture is the ‘personality’ of a given society and its influence on that society is so quick that the behavioural response and actions of its native users are viewed as a natural occurrence.

When used well, terminology can attract a user and bring about that sought-after event that takes them to your brand’s website or catalogue. This potential customer then turns their initial motivation into curiosity about what the brand could offer them. For that same reason, we have strongly emphasised the importance of a correct translation of your online catalogue in previous blog posts. There is no doubt that one key thing that can dampen the user’s curiosity is mistrust and hesitation. With your catalogue and website translated by a team of native translators it will be as if your brand is speaking directly to the user in their own language.

At this point, two very different outcomes are possible.

First, if, from a communication point of view, conditions for the user are favourable, the user may either pounce on an impulse purchase or enter into a learning phase, during which time they acquire knowledge about the brand and, more precisely, about the product or service they are thinking of buying. In this case, they are carrying out associative learning. That is, in the right conditions, they relate a service or product to the satisfaction of a need or desire.

Alternatively, if the conditions evoked as part of the user experience do not meet the required quality, it may give rise to a complex situation. If the user makes an incorrect association from the information they have received, the brand will end up losing that customer, and even descend into what is known as Brand Embarrassment.

Without a doubt, your brand has a lot at stake with just one single decision, don’t you think?

Don’t leave it up to chance, trust exclusively in native translators!